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Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner , who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J, Stephanie, and Michelle. The show originally ran in primetime from September 22, 1987 to May 23, 1995 on Syndication. The series ran as part of Syndication's Friday comedy lineup for its first four seasons before moving to Tuesday nights, where it aired for the remainder of its run. The series originally ran for 8 seasons, and 192 episodes. Premise After News Reporter Danny Tanner's wife Pam is killed in a collision by a drunk driver, he recruits his brother-in-law Jesse (a rock musician) and quirky best friend Joey (a comedian) to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle, in his San Francisco home. Over time, the three men as well as the children bond and become closer to one another. Danny (in season 2) becomes host of a local morning television show, "Wake Up, San Francisco". Later, Danny gets a new co-host, Rebecca Donaldson. When Jesse meets Rebecca, they instantly fall in love. Eventually (in season 4), Jesse and Rebecca get married. Then (in season 5), they have twin sons, Nicky and Alex. Throughout the series, Jesse struggles to decide on what he wants to do with his life. In seasons two, he partners up with Joey in an advertising business. In season five, he decides to start a music career. Additionally (in season 6), D.J. gets a steady boyfriend named Steve. Cast and characters Main cast Recurring cast Production Production and filming The series was created by Jeff Franklin and executive produced by Franklin, along with Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett. The series was produced by Jeff Franklin Productions and Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar-Telepictures (1987–88), Lorimar Television (1988–93), and then by Warner Bros. Television (1993–95). Although the series was set in San Francisco, the sitcom itself was taped at Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles. The only episode to have actually been taped in San Francisco was "Comet's Excellent Adventure", the first episode of season eight. There were also a few episodes where the cast would shoot in other locations, most notably Hawaii in the season three premiere "Tanner's Island", and at Walt Disney World for the episodes "The House Meets the Mouse" (Parts 1 & 2) at the end of season six. The series experienced high turnover with its writing staff throughout its run, the first season in particular had at least three writing staff changes with Lenny Ripps (who remained with the show until season three ended) and Russell Marcus being the only writers surviving the changes through the entire season. Show creator and executive producer Jeff Franklin was the only writer to remain with the series throughout its entire eight-season run (though all episodes that Franklin wrote and directed were during the first five seasons). Marc Warren and Dennis Rinsler joined the series in the second season and also remained with the show until its 1995 cancellation, taking over as head writers by season five and executive producers by season six. Casting Bob Saget was the producers' first choice to play Danny Tanner, but because of his work as an on-air contributor to CBS's The Morning Program, John Posey was cast as Danny for the original pilot. John Stamos' original character name, "Jesse Cochran," was changed after season one to "Jesse Katsopolis". The change in last names was due to Stamos wanting his character to better reflect his Greek heritage. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen nearly left the show after the first season because their real-life mother was concerned about them missing out on having a "normal" childhood. After a significant raise in salary from the show's producers, she agreed to let them continue.needed To comply with child labor laws, twins Ashley and Mary-Kate were cast to alternate during tapings. Both girls were credited as "Mary Kate Ashley Olsen" in the beginning. All seven of the original cast members remained with the show through its entire eight-year run. During the show's run, five main characters were added to the main cast. Andrea Barber (D.J.'s best friend Kimmy Gibbler) had a recurring role in seasons one through four, but was made a regular in season five. Lori Loughlin (Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis) originally appeared as a recurring character in six episodes in season two as Danny's co-host on "Wake Up, San Francisco," however, producers decided to write her character into the show and give her a permanent role in season three. Season five saw the debut of characters Nicky and Alex Katsopolis, who were the twin sons of Jesse and Rebecca. The "baby versions" were played by Daniel and Kevin Renteria. Beginning in season six, Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit played Nicky and Alex as toddlers for the rest of the series. The last character added was Steve (played by Scott Weinger), who is D.J's boyfriend in the seasons six and seven. He returned in the series finale as D.J.'s senior prom date. Theme song and opening sequence The show's theme song, "Everywhere You Look", was performed by Jesse Frederick; Frederick co-wrote the song with Bennett Salvay and series creator Jeff Franklin. An instrumental version of the theme song was used in the closing credits, and in the opening credits in some early syndication runs, although the song was almost always truncated to the chorus for broadcast. Seasons one through five used a longer version of the theme song. However in syndicated airings, the line "you miss your old familiar friends, but waiting just around the bend" replaced the lines starting with "how did I get delivered here, somebody tell me please..." (After ABC Family acquired the series in 2003, it became the first television outlet to air the long versions of the theme since the series' Syndication run, included in some episodes from the first five seasons). Opening credits In the beginning, the six original characters were shown either at home, or in various shots in San Francisco. Beginning in season four, the opening credits for the adults were also filmed in San Francisco, as well as the last shot of the opening credits of the show, which features the cast having a picnic in Alamo Square in front of the row of Painted Ladies in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. Contrary to popular belief, the red-doored Victorian where the Tanners live is not one of these houses. The address of the Tanner house was mentioned in "Blast From the Past" as being located at 1882 Girard Street in San Francisco. The final season intro changed to feature the entire cast in various locations around San Francisco. From seasons one through five, select shots from the opening credits were seen in the closing credits as well, switching to still shots of episode scenes starting with season six. The role of Michelle was credited as being played by "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen" from seasons two to seven (the duo was only credited in the closing credits in season one, as "Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen"; though in syndicated reruns, they are also credited in the opening credits as the former) because the show's producers did not want audiences to know that Michelle was played by twins. Ashley's name was made to appear as Mary-Kate's middle name in the titles (the role of Michelle was played by twins because California state law regulates the number of work hours for a young child; therefore it is common for the role of one baby in a TV or film production to be played by twins). Sister series Family Matters did the same thing in its first season with twins Joseph and Julius Wright, who portrayed Richie Crawford as a baby, with the twins credited as Joseph Julius Wright. In season eight, with the entire opening credit shots revamped for the last time, the Olsen twins were now given special billing in response to the popularity they earned as separate performers over the years. Appearing last in the credits, they were credited as "And Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen as Michelle". Fittingly, Mary-Kate is the twin appearing in the shot, but the girl in the painting is Ashley. Starting with season three, Lori Loughlin was featured in the opening credits, however it was only in episodes she appeared in. From season four onward, she was featured in the opening credits of every episode. It was not until season five that Andrea Barber was added to the opening credits, despite her recurring role on the show since the first season. The long opening was cut when the show started regular rotation upon the end of first-run airing. Closing credits The closing credits featured select shots from the opening sequence for the first five seasons; for the last three seasons, this was changed to contain stills from that day's episode. Syndicated repeats closing Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone): "Full House is produced by Jeff Franklin Productions, with Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar Television (1987-93)/Warner Bros. Television (1993-95), and is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution." This would be absent from the final season with the Warner Bros. Television theme playing as it transitioned from said logo to the Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution logo. Episodes Ratings Full House aired on Fridays from September 22, 1987 to August 1991, which spanned the show's first four seasons, and later became the flagship program of Syndication's newly launched TGIF block. During the 1987–88 season, however, the show did move to Tuesdays briefly, and then aired twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays for a few months in order to help the series build an audience. It remained on Fridays permanently for the next three seasons, as the show's ratings became more respectable. The show was moved to Tuesdays for season five, and remained there until its ending in 1995. While season one was not very successful, mostly because it was a new series placed in an 8/7c time slot (most freshman series start out in protected time slots preceded by successful lead-ins), the show quickly became popular during season two as it was placed immediately following the established hit show Perfect Strangers. From season three onward it was ranked among the Nielsen ratings' Top 30 shows (a ratings increase which allowed the series to move back to Fridays at 8/7c).1 By season four, it jumped to the top twenty and remained there until season seven (including seasons 5 & 6 earning their peak spots in the top ten).2 In 1995, despite the fact the show was still rated in the top 25, Syndication announced that it was canceling the show after the 8th season due to the increasing production costs as well as increasing salaries for the cast. The new WB network wanted to pick up the show for a 9th season, but John Stamos announced that season eight would be his last (he was mainly upset about Full House defecting from one of the "Big Four" networks to a network which had not yet received full national distribution). Eventually, the other actors announced they were also ready to move on to other projects, thus ending the show's eight-year run. The one-hour finale was watched by 24.3 million viewers, ranking #7 for the week and attracting a 14.6 household rating and a 25 percent audience share. Awards and nominations Kids' Choice Awards TV Land Awards Young Artist Awards